Our Farm

Catskill Mountain Lavender occupies about one acre of a much larger property that borders the Catskill Mountains in New York's Hudson Valley. In the spring of 2020 we prepared half an acre of land and put our first lavender plants in the ground. We prepared the remaining half acre in the fall 2020 and planted more lavender the following spring. The total capacity of the field today is approximately 2,000 plants. Our current inventory consists of about 1,500 lavender plants.

The climate and the presence of clay soil in parts of our field have proven to be challenging for some varieties of lavender. Lavender is, after all, a Mediterranean plant that prefers a hot and dry climate with well-draining soil.  Some of our original varieties have done well, but we found some struggled in our growing conditions and they have since been removed and replaced. Our long-range goal is to fill the field to capacity with varieties that will thrive and provide both the beauty of a lavender field in bloom every summer, and the raw material we use to make our products.

Given the challenges of cold weather and wet soil in our location, we are often asked, “Why lavender?” Well, because it’s beautiful and smells heavenly when in bloom! Lavender is a crop with many uses and benefits that also contributed to the decision. Once it is established it needs only minimal care beyond weeding, harvesting, and pruning.  Lavender is very drought tolerant and only requires irrigation for the first summer. It also prefers poor soil conditions and can grow well for years with little to no fertilizer. The fact that it is pest and disease resistant means there is no need to apply pesticides or treatments, which is great because pollinators love lavender as much as we do! 

Lavender is also a very versatile crop and we keep finding new things to do with it. Visit our product page and you’ll see what we currently create with our annual harvest. And subscribe to our mailing list or follow us on Facebook and Instagram for information on our favorite time of year – bloom season, when we open for U-Pick and share our beautiful lavender field with you!